Battle Born
by RecklessFlux
Summary: People always try to look back and remember every event that shaped them, that made them who they are. My mother used to quote Edna Mode from The Incredibles every time I asked her if she looked back. She'd tell me "I don't look back darling, it distracts from the now. Courtley, honey, you shouldn't look back on the past. The past is painful."
1. In The Beginning

_People always try to look back and remember every event that shaped them, that made them who they are. My mother used to quote Edna Mode from The Incredibles every time I asked her if she looked back. She'd tell me "I don't look back darling, it distracts from the now. Courtley, honey, you shouldn't look back on the past. The past is painful." I guess she was one of the people who ran from the past instead of learn from it._

 _I think the first event that shaped me, was her death. I was at school and my step dad, John, was at the scene of one of the worst car accidents Beacon Hills ever saw. It was Genim, my baby brother, a boy of eight years and a sharp mind, who was the only one with her. It was Genim who was the most affected by her death, more than I ever thought possible. Maybe her death shaped him more than it shaped me._

 _I was fourteen years old when she died and barely a month later Tony Stark, asshole, my boss and somehow one of my closest friends, swooped in and hired me to be his personal mechanic. Okay, to be fair the man hired me as an IT tech and I just progressed into being his mechanic when he didn't want to work on his cars himself._

 _I was seventeen when I met my mate, Derek. Did you know that when a fox meets its mate it screams to tell all the other foxes that they found them? Yeah, I screamed and ran out of embarrassment. He found me a week later in my favorite coffee shop, the stalker._

 _We were twenty two when we decided to finalize our lives as a couple. We married in the fall, under japanese maple trees. I did invite my brother and my stepdad, but they couldn't make it out to New York. Laura sent John a couple of pictures. Laura died the day our daughter, Natalia Claudia Hale, was born. Derek left to find out who murdered his sister and Nattie and I stayed behind. That's where the story stars I guess._

The ringing of my phone was the first thing I heard, the babble of my daughter was the second. I sat up and grinned at the crib, her little legs kicking at her mobile and the ear of her black stuffed wolf toy, _haha yeah, Derek was gonna kill me one of these days,_ in her mouth. I grabbed my phone and answered not really looking at the caller ID.

"Yellow?" I asked rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I tucked my phone between my shoulder and my ear as I stood and pulled Nattie out of her crib.

"Your brother is an asshole and got me arrested." Derek growled from the other end. I froze in place, Nattie hanging in the air. I snorted and tried to hold in my laughter. "Don't laugh. He thinks I murdered Laura."

"Oh my god." I muttered looking at the ceiling. _Really mom? Really?_ "I'll call John in a minute and set it straight." I heard him sigh and let his head fall against a wall. Nattie wiggled as I tried to undo her onesie, one handed, making it beyond difficult not to flash my eyes at her.

"How's Nattie?" He whispered. She was his princess, no matter what. I smiled and changed her diaper before replying.

"She's a little terror." I tickled her belly and grinned as she laughed. She was just a few days old but she was progressing faster than a normal human baby, she was a werefox after all. I heard Derek chuckled lightly before sighing.

"I'm out of call time." He grumbled and I snorted again.

"Call me once you get your cell phone back." I replied as I lifted Nattie back up and padded towards the kitchen to heat up a bottle.

"Will do. Please call your step dad quickly. It smells in here." I rolled my eyes and smirked, he was such a Poutypuppy.

"Sit tight honey." I giggled and he grumbled. "Oh shut up, you know I love you Poutypuppy."

"Don't call me Poutypuppy. Love you too." He hung up and I set my phone down for a minute.

"Well Nattie, let's get you fed, then I'll bail your daddy out of jail." She giggled, waving her arms around. "Yeah, I know. That rhymed."

* * *

John honestly hadn't recognized Derek from the wedding photo when he arrested him, at least that's what he said. "So...all in all, you're telling me Stiles framed Derek for murder because Stiles has an overactive imagination?"

"My half brother accused my husband of murdering his own sister John. I can tell you exactly where Derek was the night Laura Hale died." I sighed holding the wolf toy out to Nattie.

"Yeah? Where was he?" John asked as Nattie reached for the wolf, almost grabbing it.

"Complaining that I was trying to break his hand while I shouted at him."

"That doesn't tell me where he was."

"We were in the hospital and I was in labor. We have a daughter, her name is Natalia Claudia Hale."

"Oh...wow. Just, wow." John breathed and I chuckled a bit.

"The pictures are all over my facebook. I was actually going to call you a couple of days ago but then Derek and I hadn't heard back from Laura and he got concerned. He went out there to find her. I'll be there with Nattie for the funeral once the rest of her body is found." The sound of keys on a keyboard filled the brief silence between John's grumbling.

"She's a beauty. I'll make sure that he's exonerated. Sorry about the confusion Court."

"It's alright. Just be aware that I asked Derek to keep an eye on Scott and Stiles for me." I trailed my fingers over Nattie's cheek as she yawned, big and wide, then smacked her lips rubbing at her eyes.

"I am now aware. See you soon?"

"See you soon. Have a nice day."

"You too kiddo." He hung up and I looked over at Nattie. She was asleep, her foot twitching in her sleep.

"Catch that bunny baby." I chuckled scooping her up and padding back into my bedroom.


	2. Into The Peace

**_Not even gonna lie guys. No plans with this one. I know it's short but guess what? I have chapter three ready._**

 _I am not a saint. I never have been. I'm not perfect and I know that. My boss is one of my best friends and possibly the most irresponsible person on the face of planet Earth and yet I trust him with the safety of not only myself and my mate but with our daughter's as well._

 _Tony knew what I was the moment he met me. Don't ask me how, he's a cryptic little shit when he doesn't want to answer things. I think I have to start a swear jar, between me and Tony, Nattie can probably live off the earnings._

 _The thing is, no matter where you go, where your travels take you, one day you'll return to where you belong. For me, that's at Derek's side as cliche as that sounds, it's true. Genim, Stiles,_ whatever _, and I haven't always gotten along and that's probably my fault. I left him. But family is family, no matter how awkward._

"So you married a werewolf." Stiles huffed as we watched Nattie crawl over John's lap, giggling the whole time as they sat on the grass of the Stilinski back yard. Stiles, Derek and I were perched on the porch, it was the evening before Laura's scheduled funeral.

"Yeah." I replied looking over at him, our matching amber eyes boring holes into each other's faces.

"And you're a werefox?" His eyebrow ticked upwards

"Mmmhmm." I copied his action with a smirk as he scowled.

"Are you staying?" I looked down then over at Derek who was falling into one of his books. I smiled and gave a shrug.

"Probably. Derek and I have to get a place. We can't use the guest room forever." Stiles snorted and nodded flopping into my lap. Hanging with wolves will make you do things like that.

"Would you let me babysit?"

"Maybe when she's older Stiles. We're not sure if she's fox or wolf." Derek chipped in looking up from his book. "Foxes are creatures of beauty and chaos."

"Aw, you sap!" I giggled swatting at his leg.

"I try. That and the last time I left the beautiful part off you made me sleep on the couch that you stuck wolfsbane in." Derek huffed and Stiles burst into laughter, flailing all over the place. I ducked to avoid one of his hands and smiled because this was the _life_. Family was important, now if only I could get Tony to admit that he thought of us as family too. _One thing at a time Courtley._

"So...who do you think would benefit from being a werewolf?"


	3. Begin the Battle

_It wasn't like I_ planned _on almost getting killed for nearly three years of my life but it happened. I saw children die to defend Beacon Hills from the shadows and only be counted as missing while their friends mourned for the loss of such vibrant souls. I saw the dead rise._

 _I saw children grow into adults and forge their own paths. I saw a True Alpha rise and my brother become cold and dark like the void that had once consumed him. Stiles was never trusting but it was nice to be the one he turned to when he needed out._

 _Moving back to New York was probably the best decision Derek and I had made after the mess we had seen finally tapered off enough that we weren't needed as much as we had been in the beginning. Seeing my friend and mentor do stupid shit all of the time was annoying but watching his relationship with Pepper fall apart after he became Iron Man and moved the R &D section of the company to New York in his fancy ass tower, while Pepper stayed to run the rest of the company from Malibu was interesting to say the least._

 _Peter moved into our small apartment after his shrink (apparently they have supernatural ones) told him that he should try to make amends, (Derek wasn't amused and I didn't trust him until Nattie demanded he read to her and he did, while doing_ all _the voices.) so we became a tighter knit group. That's when Tony moved us into the tower._

 _Stiles came a month after Peter and scowled at him for a solid hour before settling in. Stiles didn't talk much anymore but it was understandable. When Tony started to show up for dinner the kid warmed up to his fellow genius quickly and formed an 'unbreakable bond of broship', whatever the hell that even means. Of Course that meant that we were all there the day Tony took the tower off the grid._

Watching Stiles chase after my three year old while Derek and Peter chatted away was...heart warming, which is why I knew the peace was ending. Call it a gut feeling.

" _You're good on this end, the rest is up to you."_ Tony's voice crackled through the speakers. I grinned as Stiles scooped Nattie up and the others joined me at the controls.

"You disconnected the transition lines? We're off the grid?" I asked bouncing on my toes. I watched as Tony's face popped up on the holoscreen.

"TONY!" Nattie squealed waving her hands at him.

" _Hi Kit, Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining, clean energy."_

"Wow, okay. So our reactor takes over and this all actually works?" Stiles piped up handing Nattie over to Peter who smiled and placed her on his shoulder.

" _I assume, okay guys, light her up."_ I tapped the controls with a grin.

"So, how does it look Bossman?"

" _Like...Christmas. But with more me."_ Peter, Derek and I glanced at each other and rolled our eyes, his ego never changes I swear.

"Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards." Peter spoke pulling up something on his tablet.

" _Peter, you're killing me. Remember? Enjoy the moment?"_ Please don't scar me Peter, please don't.

"Then get in here and I will." I shuddered and retreated towards the fridge snatching Nattie from him. I looked over as Tony touched down and made his way down the disassembling path.

"Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line." Yup, something is happening.

"I'm not in. Actually I'm out." Had to give him that, he was still outside the building.

"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting." Tony looked over at us and sighed.

"Cut the line Jarvis, family night."

"Levels are holding steady...I think." Derek huffed standing in front of the holoscreens, his eyes flicking from one image to the next.

"Of course they are, I was directly involved." Tony clapped Derek on the shoulder with a bright smile. "So guys, how does it feel to be geniuses?"

"Well, most of us wouldn't know." Derek replied chuckling. "That's what we have you three for." He sent a vague gesture towards Tony, Stiles and myself.

"What do you mean? This was your great idea to preserve the rest of the world." Tony shot back wiggling his fingers in our direction.

"Honestly the whole idea came from _that._ " Stiles gestured to Tony's chest and Tony just laughed.

"Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overridden." Overridden my ass J.

" _Stark, we need to talk."_ Coulson droned from Tony's phone as the man himself grabbed it.

"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message."

" _This is urgent."_

"Then leave it urgently." Of course that's when Coulson exits the elevator.

"Security breach!" I exclaimed pointing at Peter. "That's on you!" Peter rolled his eyes s Nattie beamed.

"Mr. Stark." Coulson sighed in a slight unamused tone.

"Phil!" Nattie squealed

"Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent." Tony scoffed slightly and Nattie just pouted at him.

"Yo, MIB come on in, we're celebrating." Stiles slunk out of the shadows with a can of Monster and a sharp grin.

"Which is why he can't stay kid." Tony slung his arm over Stiles' shoulders with an equally sharp grin.

"We need you to look this over." Coulson said holding out a file. "Soon as possible."

"I don't like to-" I grabbed the file from Coulson and popped it open.

"I never-"

"Too bad MIB, you want Tony, you get me." Peter and Derek looked at him and crossed their arms, funny how they can go from almost warm to serial killer. "And them."

"Also, official consultation hours are between eight and five every other Tuesday."

"This isn't a consultation." Coulson shot back.

"Is this about the Avengers?" Stiles asked and I shot him a look.

"Which we know nothing about." I hissed slapping his arm. He yelped and jumped away clutching his arm.

"I thought the initiative was scrapped." Derek grumbled and for good measure I backhanded his chest while Peter slapped the back of his head. "Ow!"

"Yeah and I didn't even qualify." Tony muttered joining me at the holofile.

"We didn't know that either." I chirped flipping through the first part that caught my eye.

"Yeah, apparently, I'm volatile, self-obsessed and I don't play well with others." I smirked at him and rose an eyebrow while Peter appeared at my other shoulder.

"That, we did know." Peter supplied with a smirk.

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore Mr. Stark. MRs. Hale I must insist-"

"Insist all you like MIB, but pack is family and you know how my kind takes family." I replied turning to look at him.

"We are aware."

"Then you will have to realize that where Tony goes we go." I crossed my arms and lifted one of my eyebrows.

"Is there anything else?"

"I need you to make sure Nattie gets to my step father. Stiles, you up for going home?" He paused and sighed.

"Yeah, school's starting up soon anyway."

 _Ever felt so goddamn badass while walking through a ship full of goddamn secret agents that you just can't help but look a little bad ass too? Of course leather and eyeliner always help with that._

" _Iridium, what did they need Iridium for?"_ A voice asked on the other side of one of the doors. I repeated the question to Tony quietly from my place at his right.

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony spoke loudly while turning to talk to Coulson. "I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive. Means that the portal won't collapse in on itself, like it did at SHIELD." Fury looked at the four of us his eyebrows raised. I slunk over to him as Tony puttered around the room, being Tony.

"We were not expecting you to arrive with Tony." I shrugged and watched my frail human boss ready himself for a war he wasn't sure they would win.

"He's one of us. He may be human Fury but he's one of us. And he always will be."

"...That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice but we did." He covered one of his eyes and looked around, I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head. Surprisingly he stopped being an idiot and focused on the problem.

"The team, we want what we are kept silent to them. We're only here to protect Tony, we know you won't send us into the big fight but until then, one of us or all of us will accompany Tony at all times."

"Done. And Miss Volkova? I'm sorry about your mother. She was a fine agent."

* * *

 ** _BAM! I did it._**


End file.
